The Riverside Aquatics Complex had its Grand Opening yesterday at 10:00 am, and the facility is breathtaking. I'm sure that this is my opinion because I grew up swimming and diving, so the new Aquatics Complex is everything I wish I could have had access to when I was training. It is on the Riverside Community College Campus next to the old pool, which is still there. There are 2 sections of the complex. It is one large pool with a divider between the diving area and the swimming area. On the side that has swimming it is Olympic sized with enough room for 10 lanes and for a water polo game to go on at the same time. This allows multiple sports to practice at the same time. They also have synchronized swimming that will practice at the pool. On the diving side there are two 1-meter springboard diving boards, and two 3-meter diving boards. This is great for people who are training to do synchronized diving. In the middle there is a monstrous tower that has a 3-meter, 5-meter, 7-meter, and 10-meter platform diving board. This tower doesn't look as high from the ground as it does when you're up there. (Trust me, I know.)
I wasn't able to get there right at 10, so I didn't get to see the ribbon cutting, but I was able to see all of the performances. They had free hot dogs, chips, and drinks for the people who attended, which was a great idea because it was about 80 degrees out. (I think our winter was colder and shorter this year than it has ever been!)
They had performances from the synchronized swimming team, the water polo team, the swimming team, and the diving team. They also had some pretty famous people there signing autographs including Laura Wilkinson and Greg Louganis. There were numerous vendors from around Riverside selling products and recruiting people for their teams. My personal favorite performance was at the end when they had a comedy dive show. This was entertaining and incredible to watch. For the grand finale Greg Louganis got up to perform some dives. He has won multiple Olympic Gold medals, so it was pretty exciting to watch him first hand. I'm really excited to come to the Aquatics Complex to watch some competitions and to see what it brings to Riverside in the future.
Check out my pictures on Facebook! :)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Riverside-Guide/184787721545833?v=wall
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Coupon!
I just added my first coupon to the website. It's for 10% off auto service. For more details visit the website and go to the coupons section! :)
http://riversidecaguide.com/
http://riversidecaguide.com/
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Friday, December 24, 2010
Mission Inn Festival of Lights
I finally made it to the Festival of Lights last night! I usually go on opening night, which is amazing because they have fireworks and a huge assortment of vendors, but I couldn't go this year. I talked one of my friends into coming with me and we headed downtown around 7:30. I have to say that the whole downtown area around the Mission Inn is fun to see around Christmas time. The holiday spirit seems to spread from the Mission Inn and affect everyone around. There is an ice skating rink as well as horse drawn carriages. (As a side note- there was one carriage driver who almost let his horses run into the back of my car. The other carriage drivers around were appalled at how close he came as well. I own horses and would never put my horses at that kind of risk by being so close to a car where there is unpredictable car and pedestrian traffic. The rest of the carriage drivers were very careful and polite, so it's horrible that one can ruin things.)
Once we parked we walked past the pedestrian mall on Main street where they were selling gingerbread cookies. On the other side of Main street they have a rink where you can go ice skating, which is amazing for the holidays. The front of the Mission Inn is beautiful, and is decorated with millions of lights and Christmas decorations. We walked past the front valet entrance and into the main entrance of the hotel. The inside of the hotel is as beautiful if not more beautiful than the outside. The Christmas tree inside is decorated with gorgeous ornaments, and the mantel is amazing as well.
After we finished walking around the Mission Inn we went down the street to Lake Alice. Lake Alice is one of my favorite bars because it has just about anything you could want to do there. Since it was a Thursday night they had karaoke. One of our friends met us there and sang, but they have a lot of regulars, so the wait was pretty long. We played darts, shuffleboard and pool while we were there. Some tips for anyone who goes- people tend to walk in front of the dart boards, so block off the path with some chairs. For the shuffleboard table, the pegs in the middle tend to stick, so you might have to push them down.
I recommend that anyone who hasn't been to the Mission Inn for the Festival of Lights go at some time. The last day for this season is Sunday January 2, 2011.
Once we parked we walked past the pedestrian mall on Main street where they were selling gingerbread cookies. On the other side of Main street they have a rink where you can go ice skating, which is amazing for the holidays. The front of the Mission Inn is beautiful, and is decorated with millions of lights and Christmas decorations. We walked past the front valet entrance and into the main entrance of the hotel. The inside of the hotel is as beautiful if not more beautiful than the outside. The Christmas tree inside is decorated with gorgeous ornaments, and the mantel is amazing as well.
After we finished walking around the Mission Inn we went down the street to Lake Alice. Lake Alice is one of my favorite bars because it has just about anything you could want to do there. Since it was a Thursday night they had karaoke. One of our friends met us there and sang, but they have a lot of regulars, so the wait was pretty long. We played darts, shuffleboard and pool while we were there. Some tips for anyone who goes- people tend to walk in front of the dart boards, so block off the path with some chairs. For the shuffleboard table, the pegs in the middle tend to stick, so you might have to push them down.
I recommend that anyone who hasn't been to the Mission Inn for the Festival of Lights go at some time. The last day for this season is Sunday January 2, 2011.
Friday, December 10, 2010
California Pizza Kitchen
Last night I met up with some friends for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Most of the time when I've gone here it's been busy, but for some reason last night it was pretty empty. I really like their food, and their bread is good too. You have to actually ask them for bread now. They used to bring it out for everyone, but now you have to ask. That's just another change brought on by our horrible economy. Well, since there weren't many people there the service was pretty slow. I'm not sure why that is, but it seems like when restaurants are slow the service is slow even though there is less to do. Oh well, our food was still good. We were all tired, so we didn't do anything afterwards. I'll make sure my next post is a little more exciting. :)
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
El Torito Taco Tuesday and Killarney's
Last night a bunch of us decided to go to Taco Tuesday at El Torito in the Riverside Plaza. There were about 12 of us, so we had a table in the back that was actually 3 tables put together. They have dollar tacos, which you can get chicken, beef, or carnitas (I think). I got there late, and the line for tacos was long, so I got a quesadilla. They also have some pretty good drink specials. The quesadilla was amazing except that I forgot to ask for no onions and I am not a fan of them. Oh well, that was my bad. They were extremely fast bringing me the quesadilla- I think it only took about 5 minutes. It was probably because everybody else was waiting in line for tacos. :)
Afterwards we went to Killarney's. On Tuesdays they have 2 dj's in the different rooms. I love playing shuffleboard at Killarney's, but there were people on the table when we got there. I wish we would have gotten to play because that is a fun drinking game. Some people think that it's more for older people, but try playing and you'll understand. I love the uniforms for the male bartenders here because they consist of a shirt and a kilt. :) Not too many guys would be excited about wearing a kilt, but the bartenders here rock the kilts. Well, the bar wasn't very busy when we got there, but a lot of people showed up later for dancing and it was a pretty good night.
Afterwards we went to Killarney's. On Tuesdays they have 2 dj's in the different rooms. I love playing shuffleboard at Killarney's, but there were people on the table when we got there. I wish we would have gotten to play because that is a fun drinking game. Some people think that it's more for older people, but try playing and you'll understand. I love the uniforms for the male bartenders here because they consist of a shirt and a kilt. :) Not too many guys would be excited about wearing a kilt, but the bartenders here rock the kilts. Well, the bar wasn't very busy when we got there, but a lot of people showed up later for dancing and it was a pretty good night.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Presidential Lounge, Lake Alice
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're all having a great time with your families.
So last night some friends and I decided to go grab drinks at the Presidential Lounge at the Mission Inn. This is a more upscale bar that sometimes has live music and even has a grand piano in the bar. There were people in all different attire- everything from sweatshirts and beanies to suits. I ran into one of my friends from high school there and there were a couple other people I recognized as well. This is a more relaxed bar, lots of people, but not too crazy.
After the Presidential Lounge we went to check out Mario's, but there was a line and a $10 cover charge. We decided (despite it being really cold) to walk over to Lake Alice. The cover charge there was only $3 and there was no line. There were people there that we knew also- typical for the holidays when everyone comes back into town to visit relatives. Lake Alice was a lot more upbeat and had a live band. There were different sports channels on, even though it was around midnight. There were people playing pool, shuffleboard, and just hanging out talking. I like this bar because it's a great place to just have fun. They have two small patios and it's just a great casual atmosphere.
So last night some friends and I decided to go grab drinks at the Presidential Lounge at the Mission Inn. This is a more upscale bar that sometimes has live music and even has a grand piano in the bar. There were people in all different attire- everything from sweatshirts and beanies to suits. I ran into one of my friends from high school there and there were a couple other people I recognized as well. This is a more relaxed bar, lots of people, but not too crazy.
After the Presidential Lounge we went to check out Mario's, but there was a line and a $10 cover charge. We decided (despite it being really cold) to walk over to Lake Alice. The cover charge there was only $3 and there was no line. There were people there that we knew also- typical for the holidays when everyone comes back into town to visit relatives. Lake Alice was a lot more upbeat and had a live band. There were different sports channels on, even though it was around midnight. There were people playing pool, shuffleboard, and just hanging out talking. I like this bar because it's a great place to just have fun. They have two small patios and it's just a great casual atmosphere.
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